Our son-in-law is in the process of securing a new build apartment in West Croydon with a mortgage from Bank of Ireland. His lawyer has said that there is a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
What is the first thing I need to know regarding purchase conveyancing in West Croydon?
Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in West Croydon or throughout Surrey is often a confrontational process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of opportunity for confrontation between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For instance, the seller, estate agent and on occasion a mortgage company. Appointing a lawyer for your conveyancing in West Croydon is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the transaction whose interest is to look after your legal interests and to protect you.
There is a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process taking so long. You your first instinct should be to trust your conveyancer ahead of all other players when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
I am purchasing a property and need a conveyancing solicitor in West Croydon who is on the HSBC Bank conveyancing. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a conveyancing firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for HSBC Bank in certain locations such as West Croydon. We dont recommend any particular firm.
Do I select a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in West Croydon?
There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in West Croydon and Solicitor firms in West Croydon offering conveyancing We would stress that both are supervised by regulatory bodies with both specialising in the legal aspects of the home buying process. The two can handle other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as a 1st time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in West Croydon. Do I pick up the keys to the house on the completion date from my conveyancer? If so, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in West Croydon?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the seller's conveyancers, and once they have received this, you should be called to receive the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I had an offer accepted on a house in West Croydon on 12/5/2026, valuation was booked 4 days later, all came back fine. Solicitor retained, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Clydesdale and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Clydesdale to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
In what way does the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 impact my commercial premises in West Croydon and how can your lawyers assist?
The 1954 Act gives protection to business lessees, giving them the legal entitlement to apply to court for a renewal lease and continue in occupation at the end of the lease term. There are certain specified grounds that a landlord can refuse a lease renewal and the rules are involved. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. West Croydon is one of our hundreds of areas of the UK in which the firms we work with have offices
I am attracted to a two flats in West Croydon which have about 50 years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in West Croydon is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the property. For most buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with West Croydon conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
My wife and I have hit a brick wall in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in West Croydon. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?
Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a West Croydon conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a West Croydon premises is 29 Woodstock Road in April 2014. the Tribunal determined that the premiums to be paid into court in respect of the purchase of the freehold registered at HMLR under Title N0.SY3997 should be £7,217. This case was in relation to 4 flats. The unexpired lease term was 98 years.